2008
In April 2008 festival regular Bob Childers died unexpectedly at home. As a result, a special pre-festival Childers tribute show was held at Cain's Ballroom in Tulsa on July 8, 2008, the evening before the official start of the festival. Performers at the tribute included Jimmy LaFave, The Burns Sisters, The Red Dirt Rangers, Mike McClure, Joel Rafael, Stoney LaRue and Tom Skinner. In addition, the festival program booklet included a special Bob Childers Memorial Page, and quotes made by his songwriting friends were interspersed as tributes throughout.
The following night Country Joe McDonald’s Tribute to Woody Guthrie at the Crystal Theater opened the 11th annual festival held July 9–13. It was McDonald’s second appearance at the festival, having performed at the 2nd annual festival in 1999.
Highlights of the 5-day festival included debut performances by Judy Collins, who closed the festival on Saturday night, John Gorka, Jon Vezner and Jimmy Davis. In addition, a special edition of the Phil Ochs Song Night was held, emceed by Ochs’ sister, Sonny Ochs. Performers at the Ochs’ tribute included Gorka, John Flynn, Sean Flynn, Jimmy LaFave, David Amram, Sara Hickman, and Radoslav Lorković. Several young singer-songwriters also made their festival debut. They included Alexinder Gunn, Anthony da Costa, Ali Harter and Amy Speace. Other highlights included the premier of a table reading of “Time Changes Everything,” a one-act play written by John Wooley and Thomas Conner that features two characters: Woody Guthrie and Bob Wills. Although there is no evidence that these two famous songwriters ever met, the play considers the possibility by chronicling two conversations between the men. The starring roles were read by two of the Red Dirt Rangers: John Cooper as Wills and Brad Piccolo as Guthrie. Several musicians participated in the festival's annual Community Outreach Program. Among those who volunteered their time and talents were Nancy Apple, who performed at the Okemah Senior Citizens Center, and Ronny Elliott, who performed at the Okemah Senior Citizens Center.
Several musicians performed at the Children's Festival, including Nancy Apple, Sara Hickman, and the Red Dirt Rangers. Also performing was Ellis Paul, who performed songs from his 2008 award-winning children's CD Dragonfly Races. Other activities for children at the Children's Festival included surrey rides, harmonica lessons, face painting, clowns, and crafts. The Children's Festival is held in the Okemah City Park and is made possible with a grant from the Viersen Family Foundation.
The 2008 festival ended on Sunday, July 13 with the traditional Sunday Hoot for Huntington’s. Randy Norman, President of the Woody Guthrie Coalition, stated that the crowd for the Sunday hootenanny was the largest he had seen. Although in the past the hootenanny closed with Bob Childers performing “Woody’s Road,” in Childers’ absence the WoodyFest House Band and a multitude of performers gathered on stage to perform the Childers-penned song with the audience singing along. A video of this performance has been posted on the YouTube website.
Read more about this topic: Woody Guthrie Folk Festival